Amy absolutely astounds me. Her recovery from this surgery has really been night and day different from her last time.
At 4 days Post-Op, she was pretty much her old self. She had only taken a single dose of narcotic medication since discharge and was happily on Tylenol. She was pretty much down to taking as much Tylenol as she had been before surgery. Here she is, happily decorating the Christmas tree. (I admit, I moved the metric-ton of ornaments she clustered in this one spot, ?)
At 6 days Post-Op, Amy had her first trip outside the house up to Stanford.
At one week post-op, she surprised me with her independence. She was able to crawl well (dragging her leg behind her) climb into her chair, wheel herself to the bathroom, transfer onto the toilet, transfer off the toilet, climb onto the stool, wash her hands, climb off the stool and back into her chair, and then wheel back to where she was playing 100% independently. WOW!
She also went to her friend’s Christmas party, and had a great time, even participating in the cake walk. She did stay in her chair, of course, and only did seated activities, but she didn’t complain of pain at all!
8 days post-op, she went back to Girl Scouts and had a lot of fun at the Christmas party there. Letting the girls draw on her cast was a big hit!
9 days post-op, she went to another Girl Scout event to prepare to sell Girl Scout cookies next month.
10 days post-op, she went back to school for 1/2 the day. She missed all her friends a lot, and was super excited to see them! She even joined them in silly dances from her chair.
13 days post-op, we spent the day making Christmas cookies. From her barstool, she was a SUPER big help! By now, she was completely off Tylenol.
2 weeks post-op, we spent the day at Grandma’s, went to Christmas Mass where she played the Christmas Star in the pageant,
and we all opened a gift before Santa came. She clearly showed us that climbing/crawling was her preferred method of transportation. ?
2 weeks 1 day post-op, and it was Christmas Day. She was all over the place! Other than the cast, it was easy to forget that she had just had surgery. Her only complaint is to occasionally demand her cast off.
2 weeks 2 days post-op, we were at the hospital. Why? Amy’s best friend with CPT was having surgery. It was a simple surgery with a quick recovery, so as soon as she was eating Popsicles, we drove up to visit her. It was astonishing that she seemed herself just a few hours after surgery!
They had a lot of fun, including: taking a wagon-ride to the play floor,
painting,
playing with dollhouses,
riding around in cars,
and watching a movie
I can’t help but be slightly jealous that she already seems better recovered than Amy. She’s already running around with a walker… but her journey is different than Amy’s. Her incision is MUCH smaller, she only has one, and she doesn’t have a clunky cast weighing her down. But, she does have to wait 2 weeks for a bath. So that is an indulgence that both the girls will get to enjoy at the same time. Amy cried when we left. She loves her friend. ?
3 weeks 1 day post-op, the steri-strips FINALLY came off! Amy was adamant that the glue needed to be cleaned off, and there were ends from her stitches sticking out on both sides. I had been told at her post-op visit that it was ok, so I nipped the end off as close to the skin as I could. She was really scared though. So she asked her Daddy to hold her still.
Cleaning her skin made her hurt, so she asked for Tylenol for the first time in… gosh. I can’t even remember how long! The incision is pretty long though. Whoa! ?
One less bandage, what a great way to start 2020!
5 more days… 5 more days til no more cast and a REAL bath! I don’t know who is more looking forward to it, her or me!
